The lack of verbal and nonverbal social cues

Any email message we send has the potential to be read in the wrong context, or misinterpreted entirely by the recipient. Even if we have smiley faces in the email, it is no match for actual face-to-face, video, or telephonic conversations, which, apart from our words, also showcase our empathy and earnestness.

Compared to a face-face conversation, an email is just a bunch of words that once sent, are out of our control.